Double Standard?

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Directions

-Read the excerpt below from the December 14th "Best of the Web" post by OpinionJournal.com's editor James Taranto.-Read "Types of Media Bias" in the right column. Then answer the questions.

See if you can spot the new euphemism* in this Associated Press report on the new $1.1 trillion budget bill (yes, that’s trillion with 1,000 B’s):

The measure combines $447 billion in operating budgets with about $650 billion in mandatory payments for federal benefit programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. It wraps together six individual spending bills and also contains more than 5,000 back-home projects sought by lawmakers in both parties.

Seems to us that back when the Republicans controlled Congress, “back-home projects” were called “earmarks”** or “pork.”

*euphemism – the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant

**earmarks – Pork-barrel, or ear-mark spending is a process by which congressmen add expenses for special projects onto important legislation that have nothing to do with the legislation to earn favor from voters in their states. Adding the expenses onto legislation that needs to get passed ensures that it will pass through Congress easily. The added expenses are used for special projects for Members of Congress to distribute to their constituents back home as an act of largesse, courtesy of the federal taxpayer.

Questions

1. Do you think the AP displays a double standard by using the term “back-home projects” rather than “earmarks” or “pork” now that Democrats control congress?

2. Ask a parent if Mr. Taranto makes a legitimate point about reporting on earmarks.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the answers.

Answer(s)

1. Opinion question. Answers vary.

2. Answers vary.

Identifying Media Bias

To accurately identify different types of bias, you should be aware of the issues of the day, and the liberal and conservative perspectives on each issue. (See our chart “Conservative vs. Liberal Beliefs”)

Types of Media Bias:

Omission – leaving one side out of an
article or a series of articles over a
period of time... (read more)

Selection of Sources – including
more sources that support one view
over another... (read more)

Story Selection – a pattern of
highlighting news stories that support
one side of an issue over another...
(read more)

Placement – the location in the paper
or article where a story or event is
printed; a pattern of placing news
stories so as to downplay information
supportive of one side... (read more)

Labeling – comes in two forms:
1. Tagging of person from one party
or group with extreme labels while
leaving the other side unlabeled or
with more mild labels.
2. A reporter not only fails to identify
a liberal or conservative as such, but
also describes the person or group
with positive labels, such as “an
expert” or “independent consumer
group”... (read more)

Spin – occurs when the story has only
one interpretation of an event or
policy, to the exclusion of the other.
Spin involves tone- a reporter’s
subjective comments about objective
facts... (read more)